WWE Needs Ethnic Champions

[Jack-Hammer]

Why should WWE give title runs to wrestlers based on ethnicity? To satisfy some insane notion of political correctness?

WWE ultimately puts titles on wrestlers who they think will ultimately help generate more money and interest. Sometimes they might the right call, sometimes they don't. That's simply how it goes in all wrestling companies. While I can't say I'm overly thrilled about Kofi, most likely, getting another dead end mid-card title run, he's someone that's been a very solid mid-card star for the company for years. His merchandise sells pretty well and he's pretty over with fans. As a result, it's understandable to see why he'd get another mid-card title run. It's because of that, rather than his skin color, and rightfully so. If anything, affirmative action in pro wrestling might have the opposite effect.

WWE has catered to the Latino viewers by signing top wrestlers from Mexico. WWE has given Alberto Del Rio multiple World Championship runs with mixed results. WWE saw star potential in the guy, which is a big reason why he's been given main event pushes & title runs. Part of the reason is also his ethnicity. But, Del Rio simply hasn't gotten as over as WWE would have liked. He's a talented wrestler but fans just aren't going crazy over him. WWE made a big deal out of Sin Cara and was hoping to make him into the next Rey Mysterio but, frankly, the hype has exceeded his abilities, based on what I've seen out of the guy.

In the second half of 2011, Mark Henry became something that nobody would have guessed based on the first 14 years of his pro wrestling career: a significant draw for WWE. During Henry's WHC run on SD!, he helped the show draw some of the biggest numbers its had in years. People were interested in Henry's character, which he did very well, and was believable. It wasn't because of the color of his skin.

I'm all for wrestlers of different ethnicities having title runs if they're worth being put into that spot, but not just because of their skin color or country of origin.

 

[NegativeFeedback]

To be honest, OP your thread has really really pissed me off. As being someone of Latin European ancestry, my family's name descends from Spain and I have family that emigrated to Portugal. I've also got family that have settled in Latin America while I myself was born in the United States. Your whole use or shall I say misuse of the term ethnic really burns my ass to be honest. While I do agree that I enjoyed historical moments in WWE's history of seeing guys like Pedro Morales and Eddie Guerrero win the World Championships, and in more recent memory individuals like Alberto Del Rio get the same honor. Sometimes doing something for the sake of pandering is just outright nauseating, in fact one might even argue that Del Rio's recent World Title run is an example of that. Especially when you look at the angle that ensued thereafter with Jack Swagger and Zeb Coulter.

Click Here To Understand The Difference Between Race And Ethnicity

But regardless of all that, I take it that you are confusing the words race and ethnicity, and nothing pisses me off more than that. To use myself as an example, I'm of Latin stock, regardless of whether it was Spain, Portugal or Latin America that various members of my family settled in. My surname comes from a town in Spain and the part of Portugal my family emigrated to had close ties to Spain since it was a border town and in the frontier area of Portugal there is still a very apparent amount of Spanish influence since that particular area was united with Spain quite some time ago. I don't tie my nationality to either Spain or Portugal but since both those countries are Latin European nations, I'm Latin. Sometimes this country's definition of that term is skewed but make no mistake I'm of Latin ancestry and since I noticed you're based in Puerto Rico you and myself very likely share similar ethnic origin. With that said though I consider myself an American (although both North and South America's inhabitants can say the same thing since we are collectively known as the Americas) as far as national identity goes since I was born in the United States. My race, well since I am Latin European I would say I'm White, but White isn't my ethnicity.

Confusing both those terms is nauseating and the vitriol you're getting from posters on this board is more than warranted, and I hope this teaches you something before you go and unabashedly create a thread that's amounted to the idiocy that it has. Go to that site I posted a link about to better understand the gist of what you were trying to illustrate in this thread. Far smarter people than us brought up great points with that article. It would behoove you to read it.

I think you'll especially find the remark about one individual on that page saying that Jews, Italians and Slavs at one time weren't considered white in this country's younger years. Therefore proving that the term race is very subjective and that it's not a synonym for the term ethnicity.

Have a great day sir, and hopefully insight and enlightenment won't be oblivious to you the next time you want to create a discussion on this forum.

I MIGHT have confused the words, but I'm positive "ethnic" has been used to mean "non-white" for a long time. I'm a Spanish-native speaker though and, in daily conversation, "étnico" is mostly used to refer to non-white people. If I was confused, it was probably due to different definitions across the language barrier.

A quick check on WordReference shows "étnico" to mean "related to an ethnicity or race". Actually, even the English version of the word includes in one of their definitions "relating to the classification of mankind into groups, esp on the basis of racial characteristics". I can't be TOO far off on my use of the word. Whether this particular use of the word offends people or not, it doesn't change the fact that plenty of people use "ethnic" to mean non-white. I'm definitely not the first one.

 

[shitsngiggles]

Fair enough assumption. I obviously cared enough to make a list of how many non-white champions WWE has had.

Santino is "white", Del Rio is "white", The Bellas are "white", I don't get this US crap with calling people hispanics and labelling it as a "race".

Did you know Indians, North Africans, Spanish, English, Scottish and Irish are all caucasian?

I have a different ethnic background to people who live 50 miles from me. Hell I even have a different ethnic background to my neighbours.

Almost every member of the WWE roster has a different ethnic background, in fact you could probably argue the only 2 people who don't are the Bella twins.

 

[Kidpolean]

This thread is kinda dumb but I would like to see a full African american wwe champ because Im pretty sure there has never been one. Im african amercian so I wanna see this but ive never thought that the WWE was racist or anything. Plus you gotta remember in the US the majority of wrestlers and wrestling fans are white. The WWE cant force other ethnicity's to want to wrestle or watch wrestling, its a business and you have to work with what you got. People like wrestlers they could relate to. For example Austin got big because of his redneck beer drinking rebel gimmick. Me being black, couldnt relate to him therefore I wasnt a fan of his but I did recognize his talents. We are all people and race doesnt matter its about being entertained and the person that does that the best will have the titles

 

[Mighty NorCal]

My other point was that although they feel they need to have ethnic champions, they don't feel like they need to push them.

Dolph Ziggler, Jack Swagger, Wade Barrett, Christian, and Antonio Cesaro say hello.


Though I suppose "white" is an enthnicty.

Maybe we can lobby for "mid card champion" to be an ethnicity. Has much more in common with what you are talking about than skin color.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Maybe they should throw ethnicity out the window completely and put the guys on top who..... I don't know people who are actually interesting and have some ability to draw. I don't believe in putting the title on someone Hispanic for the simple fact they are hispanic, I just feel its a bad idea. I understand putting Del Rio in the main event vs. Mysterio in Mexico city but I wouldn't give them the title or make them my main eventer for that reason especially if your home base is in the United States.

Sheamus has a good future and he is pushed quite well, he's also a different ethnicity than everyone else. Kofi's from Africa, he's currently the US champion (who beat a guy from Switzerland) and gets a good reaction, perfect guy to hold a midcard title.

Frankly it comes down to talent, crowd reaction and the ability to sell tickets not ethnicity. I don't recall the last time a Canadian held any title in the WWE, who gives a shit?

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

I MIGHT have confused the words, but I'm positive "ethnic" has been used to mean "non-white" for a long time. I'm a Spanish-native speaker though and, in daily conversation, "étnico" is mostly used to refer to non-white people. If I was confused, it was probably due to different definitions across the language barrier.

A quick check on WordReference shows "étnico" to mean "related to an ethnicity or race". Actually, even the English version of the word includes in one of their definitions "relating to the classification of mankind into groups, esp on the basis of racial characteristics". I can't be TOO far off on my use of the word. Whether this particular use of the word offends people or not, it doesn't change the fact that plenty of people use "ethnic" to mean non-white. I'm definitely not the first one.

I'll acquiesce and admit that yes, ethnic has been used to mean "non-white" for quite some time, however I do argue its use, just the same, because it can be VERY subjective. And I do mean very. Again, as I mentioned in the previous post I made, even the definition of what was considered white has changed over the years.

Merriam-Webster definition of ethnic

So, I'm willing to admit that I was a bit reactionary to your statement. However, from my perspective and coming from the background I do, I disagree and as you can tell several others disagree with the way the word ethnicity has taken on a new definition. Because if you'll even see in that link I provided, the word is opened up to more explanation than the simplifications that both you and I have given it.

Either way, you use of the word ethnic I don't feel is a clear enough or fair way to explain the topic of your thread. Because even "whites" can fall into ethnic categories.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

While the arguments are flawed, there is some logic to this - even in the early 80's the WWF promoted "ethnic" stars, not always with titles but men like "Polish Power" Ivan Putski, Tito Santana, Nikolai Volkoff, Iron Sheik, Tony Atlas, Pedro Morales and of course Bruno had prominent roles... even the name Hulk Hogan was intended to give the American-Irish fans someone to cheer for.

I don't think WWE of today goes out of its way to promote any particular race over another in terms of titles but it is perhaps true that their roster is the most diverse it has ever been and that those who are not american born are doing better than they ever have.

Take the UK - currently under contract you have several English talents (Barrett, Adrian Neville, Regal, the NXT Tag Champs, Layla, Paige), a Scotsman (Drew), a Welshman (Mason Ryan...yup he STILL is hanging on) and several Irish talents. most notably Sheamus (not sure if Northern Irish is covered now but when Finlay was around it was).

The way to judge it is not on titles held but proportion of the show -you could easily see a show like this any Monday on RAW.

Barrett v Orton-15 mins
Layla v Tamina 5 mins
Sheamus v Henry - 8mins
3MB v Shield - 7 mins
Ryback vs Mason Ryan - 5 mins

then that show would have 40 minutes out of 3 hours involving UK talent alone and that is a massive number. That you also have Jinder Mahal, Roman Reigns, Mark Henry in those segments and other talent like ADR, Rey Mysterio and others could still appear and that makes it far more diverse than any show.

I'd go as far as to say WWE is the most ethnically diverse programme on mainstream TV at the moment and thats not counting who has titles.

 

[The Gribbler]

No one should be the champion because they are black. No one should be the champion because their white. People should be the champion because they are talented, dedicated, entertaining, have a connection with the audience, and put some butts in the seats.

Those are the qualities of a champion. Your race, age, gender, religion etc. etc. have nothing to do with it.

If you want proof, look at Del Rio, he got a push because the WWE need a reliable Latin superstar for that key demographic, but the Latin community by and large still don't really care all that much about him, because (unlike Mysterio) he doesn't have that connection to them.

Your race doesn't mean dick, your skill should determine your status.

Just My Opinion

 

[One to Remember]

It looks like a bunch of you guys purposely misinterpreted the OP's first post just so you could go on some angry white boy anti-pc tangent..

Since you guys have hijacked his thread and changed its context I am going to address it like it was in that context.

Ethnic wrestlers would be AMERICAN (That is the term ONLY for a citizen of the U.S., "the Americas are two continents not one esse.., your North or South American) wrestlers that are non White or from some groups who were not historically quickly integrated into white society. That would be Italians (Sammartino), Poles (Ivan Putski), the Irish (Hulk Hogan), or Greeks (the bulk of Batista) for example.

Then you have non American nationals who are just regarded as foreigners that are sometimes hostile. Santino would not represent the same ethnic fan base Bruno did. Kofi does not represent Blacks the way Tony Atlas or Rocky Johnson did. He is black like Koko B. Ware not Black like Ron Simmons.. Likewise Mr. Sato and Inoki could be Tojos but Steamboat couldn't. Fritz von Erich could be a Nazi or a Hessian but Lacey von Erich couldn't be one on TNA.. Del Rio represents the state of Mexico, he may even represent Spain since he always appeared to me and even my mom to be a darkened White man.. Coulter's attacks on him aren't the same as if he had ordered Swagger to attack Mysterio or Primo.



I agree with the OP, Kofi was givin the title to be a good token appealing face. I also have wondered if his color has kept him from going above the U.S. title and I-C strap. That would be compounded further if he were ultimately lead to the WHC as opposed to the WWE title. I question why you have no (actual) Blacks in the WWWF/WWF/WWE title lineage. By the time WWE got opened to the idea of Black champions they were always sent after the WHC..

So I think tokenism gets Kofi to the midcard title scene and maybe the same factor keeps him from the top of the card. He has large scale appeal in the classic sense yet WWE never fully taps into that.

I personally think giving the strap to someone for "diversity" is a travesty to the business, and defames the title, no matter what it stands for, or it's level of prestige.

Maybe you should protest WWE title matches then since the combined total of two of its ethnic picks champs equal a title reign that last for 15 years.. And going for diversity is not the same as going for something that by default equals diversity, that has been a rout WWE has taken. Khali was used to drum up future tick sells for an india tour, likewise for Mysterio and which ever of his 3 titles you don't consider a tribute reign.

The diversity coming from their character and how they portray themselves is more important than where they were born.

Where your born can always provide a quick boost for tickets. A failed Afrikan tour could easily be boosted by Kofi capturing a top title in it. Austin, Book, or Henry could all boost ticket sells in Texas based off of cheap home team nationalism..

Also, are (English)Canadians going to be considered a separate ethnicity from U.S. Americans? Saying Kofi doesnt count is a bit laughable, since it's mixing words even more, keep in mind the WWE has built Kofi on the entire gimmick of him being....

Why did you put English Canadian..? You differentiate between Y2J Canuks and Rocky Sr. canuks? Canadians are Americans to the point we thought we could just annex their country in the war of 1812 and that just be the end of it. That's how unethnic a Canadian is here, there whole country is the lost 51st state..

I don't tie my nationality to either Spain or Portugal but since both those countries are Latin European nations, I'm Latin. Sometimes this country's definition of that term is skewed but make no mistake I'm of Latin ancestry and since I noticed you're based in Puerto Rico you and myself very likely share similar ethnic origin.

I think you'd be better off with the term Iberian then Latin. Splitting hairs between Spain and Portugal is like an Afrikaner arguing with someone from Holland over who is truly the real deal Dutch..

With that said though I consider myself an American (although both North and South America's inhabitants can say the same thing since we are collectively known as the Americas) as far as national identity goes since I was born in the United States. My race, well since I am Latin European I would say I'm White, but White isn't my ethnicity.

There are two Carolinas too known as the Carolinas but I tell people I'm North Carolinian like the Big Show would tell you hes South Carolinian.. We aren't "Carolinians.." A West Virginian can never be a Virginian just because hes of "the Virginias.." Your ethnicity is Spanish, Portuguese, or whatever country you hail from like Argentine or Brazilian..

Confusing both those terms is nauseating and the vitriol you're getting from posters on this board is more than warranted, and I hope this teaches you something before you go and unabashedly create a thread that's amounted to the idiocy that it has

WTF is this ***** talking about? No one read or chose to misunderstand his post then that opened the flood gates of blah blah. Your up here arguing about idoacy and respect for identies but your screen name is a racial/ethnic caricature. JOSÉ OLÉ® is a brand of taquitos and burritos. That's like me choosing the screen name Uncle Jamima..

No one should be the champion because they are black. No one should be the champion because their white. People should be the champion because they are talented, dedicated, entertaining, have a connection with the audience, and put some butts in the seats.

I think Ron Simmons was WCW champion in 1992 because he was Black. Do you feel that was a wrong move by WCW? That was the core reason for him getting the title. Part of it had to do with Bobo Brazil's 1963 title reign in the NWA not being recognized. Part of it had to do with setting a precedence for the likes of Booker T., R-Truth, the Rock, and Mark Henry. If WWE can boast having Junk Yard Dog on the roster and him not holding the WWF title, Kofi might be able to compensate for that mishap, maybe.. As far as why you said people should be the champion, 3/5 of your reasons could be due to race or ethnicity, hints the guy with the nearly 8 year title reign, no not Cena, the other guy..

P.S. Why am I the only guy who noticed the poster with the work "Honkey" in his screen name and a guy named "CM Punk is a Jew..?"